<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hello again,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Marci will be discussing some things regarding voting and elections during tomorrow’s Seattle chapter meeting. Part of what will be mentioned dealt with an issue Corey Grandstaff recently encountered.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It would be good if those attending the meeting could read this in advance and come prepared with questions. It’s a fairly long post, which is why we’re encouraging you to read it for yourselves.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jim<o:p></o:p></p><p style='background:#F5F6F7'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>From Corey:</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:#F5F6F7'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Long post warning. I normally am not a person who complains on social media or uses social media as a platform to call out entities who do not treat me fairly as a blind person: however, with the controversy over mail in ballots, I have to tell my most recent voting story. Washington has been doing mail in ballots as long as I can remember since I moved here in 2012. Now I trust my wife, but in previous elections, I have two options: allow her or another person to mark my mail-in ballot or go to the elections office by appointment only to vote using an accessible voting machine. Having someone else mark my ballot is not private voting and with concerns of contracting covid, I sure don’t want to have to go to the election office. Needless to say, I was excited when I heard there was an online voting option. The actual online ballot was accessible, that was a plus. But the process to submit the ballot was not. The process is this: print out the ballot, fill out a secrecy cover sheet and a declaration and signature sheet, cut out something from an envelope cut-out sheet, tape it onto a regular envelope, figure out where the signature line is for the envelope, and then buy postage to mail in my ballot. Here are my issues: as a blind voter I should not have to do anything extra than my sighted counterparts: fill out the ballot, sign the envelope, put in the envelope, and mail it for free. Now I can afford a stamp no problem, but if my sighted voters don’t have to pay, neither should I. And we have not even discussed the interactions I have had with the Clark County Elections Office, one of which went something like this: me, “I would like to speak with the person who handles accessible online voting for blind people,” the representative, “oh you’re blind, your only option is to come to our office and vote by appointment only,” me, “Actually that is not true, there is accessible online voting available for people who are blind which is why I would like to talk to the person who handles online accessible voting,” representative, “well sir, I don’t think you know what you are talking about however I will transfer you.” Hello, I am the blind person in the situation I think I know if I have the option to vote online or not. When I did finally get to talk to the accessible voting coordinator, I was told I have two options to mail in the marked ballot I completed online: mail it in using the process as described earlier with cutting out the envelope or choose not to follow the process and mail my online ballot in as my sighted counterparts do. However, if I choose the second option my ballot will be flagged as it has to be processed separately by hand and in the exact words of this accessibility coordinator , “this means it may sit on someone’s desk until they have time to hand process your ballot.” So not only may my ballot not get counted, it may be lost, or not processed at all. When I asked can I go online to make sure it was processed, the response was: “well we are finding a glitch in the system where if you check to make sure your ballot was processed, it may delete your already processed ballot.” I don’t understand, I can pay my bills online, I can do any banking I want online, I can manage my investments and retirement benefits online, I can shop online, and now I can fill out the ballot online, but I can’t submit it online because it is to “insecure.” Now I believe in voting, but if I can do all these other things online and these companies have figured out how to handle these security issues, the elections department can’t, I don’t understand. And mine is just one experience, whether its online voting or mail-in ballots, it should be accessible to all. This means finding a solution so I can find the signature line on my ballot envelope (hey Oregon figured it out, a hole punched at each end of the signature line), not having to do separate forms or pay for my ballot to be mailed in a separate envelope, having my ballot processed at the same rate and in the same way as my sighted counterparts have there’s, and oh yeah, having election officials who actually know what they are talking about when they receive a call from a blind person who wants to vote in a private and accessible fashion. Wait, one more thing, lets make it even easier, allow everyone to vote online, submit online, and then it would also be easier to count online. Really you can’t figure out the security issues. That’s bullshit, its just another example of putting up obstacles to allowing people to vote privately and safely from their homes.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>